Ryan Serhant wealth markets are multiplying rather than shrinking, the CEO of Serhant said this week, pointing to Huntsville, Central Ohio and Charlotte as the three cities set to see the highest net migration over the next few years.
Serhant, who also stars in Owning Manhattan, told Fox Business that high-net-worth buyers are not abandoning established luxury cities. They are adding secondary homes in markets that most investors have overlooked.
‘You would think that the American city is over, the metropolis is dead, and people are scattering,’ he said. ‘And what you actually see is wealth multiplying to the benefit of both the individuals and the real estate assets.’
Ryan Serhant on wealth markets: data centres driving growth
Serhant described Huntsville, Central Ohio and Charlotte as hot spots for data centres that generate wealth and jobs. Huntsville has grown 8.7% since 2020, according to Capstone Fans, making it one of the faster-growing mid-sized cities in the country.
‘You go to Ohio and you look around, and there are more very expensive cars than you’ll see in South Beach, but no one talks about it,’ Serhant said.
His argument is that the wealthiest buyers are not simply relocating. They are spreading their portfolios across multiple properties. ‘They all want ease of access to great cities without necessarily paying to be in the centre,’ he said.
Affordability is drawing a far broader cohort, too. Homes in Ohio run about 30% cheaper than coastal equivalents, and Gen Z and millennials accounted for nearly 30% of all interstate movers, a StorageCafe analysis found.
Major employers are following. Intel is building two chip factories outside Columbus in a project raised to $28 billion, described as the largest private investment in Ohio’s history. Amazon Web Services plans to invest more than $23 billion in the state through 2030.
Danielle Andrews, a realtor with Realty One Group Next Generation, previously said the Midwest’s cost of living for essentials such as groceries, gas and healthcare ‘is better aligned with local wages, allowing Gen Z buyers to not just get by but actually get ahead.’
New York faces a warning sign, Serhant says
Serhant also said cities with irreplaceable status are not immune to pressure. He estimated New York lost about 12,000 residents last year, which he called ‘definitely a warning sign,’ though not a crisis.
A four-bedroom flat near his SoHo office recently rented for $75,000 a month, a figure he cited as evidence the city has become ‘too expensive.’
New York has ranked among the least affordable markets in the country, featuring in analyses of cities where even a 0% mortgage rate would not make buying a home affordable.
Serhant argued that taxing or pricing out wealthy residents does not keep them in the city. They simply purchase elsewhere, and the city loses the revenue either way.
‘Those companies are states. American citizens are employees,’ he said, drawing a parallel with employers who impose restrictions that push talented workers to look for other roles.
Fortune’s own reporting found that billionaires have been flocking to Florida, with 19 of the state’s 20 richest now living in Miami, partly as California and Washington consider new wealth taxes. Serhant’s position is that those moves are additions to real-estate portfolios, not complete departures from other markets.
Intel’s $28 billion Ohio chip factories are scheduled to begin production in the coming years, a concrete deadline that will test whether the state’s growth story holds.
